Hello everyone!
I have been trying for the past week to wean my kitten. He was found during a thunderstorm, a client at the vet hospital I work at found him and tried to search for the mom with no avail. She was unable to care for him, and since I’m a sucker I took him in.
He is a wonderful little guy, we estimate him to be about 5 weeks old and I have had him in my care for a little over a week now. He even gets along swimmingly with my 4 year old cat!
My only issue with him is he is attached to his bottle. I have been feeding him gruel for the last week in his bottle (was KMR and a/d since he was so little, now switched over to KMR and ProPlan kitten chicken wet food) and he loves it. He is chewing at the nipple and has poked holes in 4(!) now. So, he is for sure ready to eat from a saucer. He will lick the gruel from my hand, but refuses it in saucer, bowl, or plate. Also, he seems to be terrified of a spoon, he will shriek when I get it towards him.
I have tried just milk, milk and some wet food, mostly wet food, and even some chicken baby food and he refuses all of it in a saucer!
I am getting a little desperate for him to eat on his own. I would love to be able to sleep longer than 5 hours!
He has been checked by both vets in my office and he is in great health, he is FIV/FeLV negative and stool sample tested negative.